Dongseongno Korean restaurant, yukhoe bibimbap in a ball: Hyangtaek

Hyangtaek Daegu Jongno Branch (향택 대봉점) is a Kim Kwang-seok Street rice restaurant with a waiting line. I recommend it as a lunch spot for neat, tidy Korean food.

Today I finally had a Dongseongno date with my husband after a long time~ We wondered what to eat and ended up at Hyangtaek, the hot Korean rice restaurant in Dongseongno that people queue for! It serves a neat and generous spread, so here's my honest review!

Where is Hyangtaek Daegu Jongno Branch, and where do you park?

Hyangtaek is at 17 Dalgubeol-daero 440-gil, Jung-gu, Daegu, within a 5-minute walk of Exit 2 at Gyeongdaebyeongwon Station on Line 2, so it's easy by public transport. There's room for about 2 cars right in front of the restaurant. Otherwise you'll need a nearby public or paid parking lot!

Hours are 11:00–20:00 every day, with a break from 15:30 to 17:00. Last orders are at 15:00 and 19:30, and takeout is available.

Is there a wait at Hyangtaek, even early?

Hyangtaek is already a well-known Kim Kwang-seok Street spot with a line in Daegu, and even though it wasn't lunchtime but early, there were lots of customers~

Hyangtaek menu and prices

At this Bangcheon Market favorite, we ordered the signature eggplant doenjang rice bowl (₩13,000) and yukhoe bibimbap (₩14,000), plus grilled deodeok and mushrooms (₩9,000) as a side. Order placed!

If you write a Naver receipt review, you get a free serving of hanpan mushrooms, so how could we not join in?!

They serve barley tea instead of plain water, which totally hits the spot for a Korean-food lover like me.

The side dishes arrive before your order does. The yukhoe bibimbap comes with seasoning sauce and a raw egg, and the eggplant doenjang (soybean paste) rice bowl comes with gim (seaweed) and kelp vinegar.

How much yukhoe is in the yukhoe bibimbap?

The yukhoe bibimbap (₩14,000) comes with sooo much yukhoe (seasoned raw beef) on top! It first arrived rolled into a round ball, and I was like, what?.. that's a crazy amount????!!

Personally I'm not a fan of raw egg, so I skipped it, added a moderate amount of the savory seasoning sauce, and gently spread and mixed it with chopsticks! Mixing with chopsticks keeps the rice grains from getting mashed, so it tastes even better~

The miso soup that came with it was mild yet lightly salty, and went so well with the bibimbap~ It's an easy slurping soup, so no burden at all!

Bean sprouts and lettuce piled high, and a huge amount of yukhoe too, so I was really satisfied with this Korean meal T_T Hyangtaek is especially neat and tidy, and no single flavor stuck out, everything blended well, so I enjoyed it a lot!

How do you eat the eggplant doenjang rice bowl?

For the eggplant doenjang rice bowl (₩13,000), you tear the eggplant into bite-size pieces and eat it with rice and doenjang together! My husband ordered it because it's the signature dish. Doesn't the name itself sound kind of unfamiliar?

The doenjang is a bit like thick gangdoenjang (stew-style paste), and the eggplant is so soft that it's a dish anyone, young or old, would like~~

The combination with salty, soft, moist eggplant has a different kind of flavor~~? It was my first time trying it, but the dish is so quintessentially Korean that any Korean would like it!!

You can wrap it in gim, and after eating a while, adding the sweet-and-sour kelp vinegar turns it into a whole other dish, so you get 3 flavors out of one eggplant doenjang rice bowl!

Is the ₩9,000 grilled deodeok and mushrooms worth it?

The grilled deodeok and mushrooms (₩9,000) look spicy with their red seasoning, but actually you get a strong smoky grill aroma with a faint deodeok (bellflower-family root) scent reaching your nose~ I was so, so curious about this one.

Even the side dishes at Hyangtaek are neat and deeply flavored. The fragrant deodeok and chewy mushrooms went so well together, and the seasoning wasn't strong, so it's an easy dish for anyone, which I loved! The portion was really big, and for ₩9,000 I think it's good value~

Verdict: who should go to Hyangtaek?

If you're looking for a neat restaurant where you feel well looked after, I highly recommend this Korean rice restaurant near Gyeongdaebyeongwon Station in Daegu! Besides the eggplant doenjang rice bowl and yukhoe bibimbap, there's a range of Korean dishes like Spanish mackerel gondre rice, beef bulgogi rice bowl and spicy squid with chamnamul rice bowl, so I really recommend it as a lunch spot!!!